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Instant Gratification: “The Finest Hours” and four other good movies to watch on Netflix and Amazon

Pick of the Week: “The Finest Hours” (Netflix) — My full review is here. Before Chris Pine and Ben Foster starred in the excellent Texas crime thriller “Hell or High Water,” they were co-stars in this old-fashioned rescue drama, based on a true-life event in which a Coast Guard crew battled an epic storm to save the crew of a sinking ship. Casey Affleck may be the film’s MVP as the ship’s quietly heroic engineer.

“Elvis & Nixon” (Amazon Prime) — My full review is here. Michael Shannon as Elvis and Kevin Spacey as President Nixon, in a film that imagines what went on during their notorious White House meeting? It takes too long to get there, and has too many extraneous characters, but once those two great actors get in the room together, this movie is a hoot.

“Jaws” (Netflix) — My full review is here. Now that summer’s over and we’re safely out of the water, it’s a great time to revisit Steven Spielberg’s classic thriller. All three sequels are also on Netflix, if you want to do that to yourself.

“Man on Wire” (Netflix) — I love James Marsh’s marvelous documentary about the attempt to tightrope-walk between the two towers of the World Trade Center in 1974, which Marsh structures with the verve of a classic caper flick.

“Footloose” (Netflix) — The wan remake made me appreciate the 1984 original about the town that outlawed dancing and the troubled teen (Kevin Bacon) who rebelled using fancy footwork. Let’s hear it for the boy.